The Lion's Share

The Lion's Share
Matthew McElligott
Walker Childrens
2009

The Lion's Share is a marvelous, boldly drawn picture book that portrays both a charming story about sharing and greediness as well as illustrating essential math concepts. A lion invites the jungle animals to a dinner party every year, and this is the ant's first time to attend. He is horrified by the other guests' behavior and greediness....When the cake is passed around, the elephant goes first and cuts the cake in half. Each animal, in turn, cuts the remaining cake in half; all that is left for the ant to cut in half simply turns to crumbs when he tries to cut it.  In an effort to make amends for there not being enough cake left for him to share with the lion (after the other animals have had "their share"), he offers to make the lion a cake. Not to be outdone, the animal next in line promptly offers to make twice the number of cakes as the previous animal. By the time the elephant is volunteering, he commits to a large number of cakes! Illustrations nicely capture the shrinking and growing numbers.

Recommended for older preschool and up!